In spite of title, I am familiar with soup bowls made from hollowed out bread. I haven’t had one in years, I think the last time I went San Francisco.
What I don’t get is why there are recipes for soup bowl bread? Wouldn’t any standard French or Italian loaf, formed into the iconic shape and hollowed out, do as well? Or is there something special about soup bowl bread that makes it hold the soup better?
Just out of curiosity, I looked at a few of the recipes on-line. They all contained a blend of flours (either bread flour and whole wheat flour, or bread flour and AP flour), they all had a bit of oil (not butter), but there didn’t seem to be anything inherently different about them. And no bigas or poolishes. I would think that a biga would add structure to dough so the bread would hold up to the soup a bit better. And I would probably either but a pan of hot water in the oven, or bake the bread in a cast iron Dutch oven, to get that nice crackly French bread crust.
But I digress. So, can anyone tell me if there are dough differences peculiar to soup bowl bread?
What I don’t get is why there are recipes for soup bowl bread? Wouldn’t any standard French or Italian loaf, formed into the iconic shape and hollowed out, do as well? Or is there something special about soup bowl bread that makes it hold the soup better?
Just out of curiosity, I looked at a few of the recipes on-line. They all contained a blend of flours (either bread flour and whole wheat flour, or bread flour and AP flour), they all had a bit of oil (not butter), but there didn’t seem to be anything inherently different about them. And no bigas or poolishes. I would think that a biga would add structure to dough so the bread would hold up to the soup a bit better. And I would probably either but a pan of hot water in the oven, or bake the bread in a cast iron Dutch oven, to get that nice crackly French bread crust.
But I digress. So, can anyone tell me if there are dough differences peculiar to soup bowl bread?